In her first campaign appearance since announcing her candidacy on Sunday, Hillary Clinton called for a constitutional amendment to restrict political speech by overturning the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision. Clinton also tried to frame herself as a populist by blasting CEOs and hedge fund managers.
At a Tuesday roundtable event at Kirkwood Community College in Monticello, Iowa, Clinton said that there is “something wrong” when “CEOs make 300 times” what the average worker makes and “hedge fund managers pay lower tax rates than nurses and truckers that I saw along I-80.” Clinton’s son-in-law is a hedge fund manager for a fund some may have invested in to gain favor with the Clintons.
In her opening remarks, Clinton said her campaign would focus on four big fights.
She said America needs to “build the economy of tomorrow not yesterday,” and “strengthen families and communities.” Clinton, whose supporters are reportedly aiming to raise $2.5 billion and family’s foundation has been dogged for hypocritically accepting shady donations from repressive Middle Eastern regimes, called for fixing “our dysfunctional political system and get unaccountable money out of it once and for all, even if takes a constitutional amendment.” At the Aspen Ideas Festival in 2014, Clinton said she would consider anti-Citizens United amendments to the Constitution “if there is no other way to deal with” the Supreme Court decision.
The former Secretary of State who reportedly ignored requests for more security leading up the Benghazi scandal said she also wanted to focus on protecting “our country from the threats that we see and the ones that are on the horizon.”
Clinton repeated some basic talking points form her announcement video about wanting to be a champion for regular Americans and spoke of students and families that “have to go deeply in debt” and said she has been “fighting for children and families my entire adult life.” She spoke about her mother and her church that taught her “you’re supposed to give back and do what you can to help others.”
All politics is local, and Clinton praised former Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin (D) for his work on behalf of disabilities and talked about her work at the Children’s Defense Fund out of law school and discovering that blind and deaf kids were not allowed to participate in schools then.
Clinton, “who made at least $200,000 per speech since leaving the State Department and is reportedly in the top one-hundredth of the 1%,” has started her campaign trying to convince Americans that she can be a “champion for everyday people” while also trying to assuage left-wing activists who want Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) to challenge her.
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.